Urban Meyer Is A Buckeye - But For How Long?

It didn't take Ohio State long to get over their first loss in football to Michigan since 2003.  Urban Meyer, who actually beat Ohio State in the 2007 BCS Championship Game as the head coach at Florida, returns to the sidelines as the Buckeye's head coach after taking a year off to spend time with family and regain his health.

After appointing Luke Fickell as the interim coach just prior to the 2011 season after controversial coach Jim Tressel was forced out largely due to a "failure to monitor" his program, Ohio State was eager to turn the page to the Ohio native, Urban Meyer.  Meyer is taking over a program loaded with talent, but that will likely face NCAA sanctions due to violations during Tressel's reign.  In order to deal with any upcoming NCAA sanctions Ohio State will be smart to incentivize Meyer to stabilize the program in the short-term, but more importantly, keep him around for the long-term.

In 10 seasons as a head coach Urban Meyer has an impressive 104-23 record while also racking up a 7-1 record in bowl games, including 2 BCS National Championships at Florida.  However, along with the winning success Meyer has brought with him to Bowling Green, Utah, and Florida during those 10 seasons, a lower winning percentage and a depleted roster of talent have followed him on his way out.  In each case, Meyer has either left for greener pastures (See Bowling Green and Utah) or left immediately after a star, first-round quarterback went to the NFL (See Utah-Alex Smith and Florida-Tim Tebow).  Meyer was lured back to Florida after Tebow left in 2010 after taking a leave of absence in 2009 only to step down again after the season giving way to a new coaching staff to lead Florida to a 6-6 record (3-5 in the SEC) in 2011.

Now you might say that each team, including Florida in 2011, has suffered from Urban's departure because of a step-down in coaching talent and/or a transition to a new staff, but count me as an outside observer who thinks that Urban Meyer is a smart, smart football coach, and he has been even smarter in how he has managed his career path.  Each of Urban's arrivals (including Ohio State) have come with a talented and experienced football team while each of his departures has been uncoincidentally timed with a weaker group of up-and-coming underclassmen.  Meyer will become one of the highest paid coaches in college football as he will receive a six-year contract that pays $4 million annually, but more importantly, another $2.4 million total in "retention payments."  Apparently, someone at Ohio State may share my concerns about OSU being another stop on Urban Meyer's path to the top of the coaching world.

If I'm an Ohio State fan, of course I'm interested in winning national championships, and I do think Urban Meyer has the potential to be VERY successful at OSU, but after Tressel's issues (Remember, Tressel won a national championship in 2002), I'd be more concerned about maintaining stability in the program and retaining Meyer to bring respectability and long-term success back to Columbus.

Three Things I Think

Take A Knee
I think taking a knee with over five minutes left in the game may be controversial, but it is definitely the right thing to do under the right circumstances.  #1-ranked LSU was pounding Mississippi 52-3 on Saturday when they had a 1st and Goal situation at the 1-yard line primed to keep running up the score.  LSU then took a knee on four consecutive plays to give Mississippi the ball back with a couple of minutes instead of going for additional points.

Jordan Jefferson (9) and the LSU Tigers ran and "kneeled" the Ole Miss Rebels
this past Saturday on their home field, 52-3.

Ole Miss fans were booing and the ESPN analysts were criticizing the LSU team for rubbing the blowout in the faces of the Mississippi fans, players, and lame duck coach, Houston Nutt, who has already been told he will be fired after next week's game.  Here's the thing, Ole Miss, next time you start to complain about someone taking a knee with more than five minutes left in the game, try making the game competitive during the first 55 minutes.  What you should be doing is thanking LSU and its merciful coaches for not running up the score and humilliating you even more on your home field.

No Bowling for the 'Canes
I think if Miami was 10-1 and potentially headed to a BCS bowl instead of being 6-5 and potentially headed to the Fight Hunger Bowl, then they would not have self-imposed a bowl ban for this season.  Quick background - reports surfaced earlier this year that Miami football boosters had supplied parties, tattoos, and prostitutes to Miami football players for years.  The NCAA is currently investigating the allegations, but Miami took the initiative to essentially ask the NCAA to take it easy in assessing the eventual penalties once the investigation is completed by foregoing the benefits and additional revenue that come with a bowl game.  However, if the NCAA's recent treatment of USC is any indication, Miami should expect no leniency and no mercy from the NCAA.  Along with dozens of revoked scholarships, USC is now completing its second year of a two-year bowl ban after the NCAA found a culture of non-compliance and improper benefits provided to football players.  Ironically enough, if USC had taken a self-imposed bowl ban two years ago like Miami is doing this year, then maybe they'd be eligible for a BCS bowl this year just as they are leading the Pac-12 South and riding high after a huge road win at Oregon on Saturday.

Jay Paterno (left) and the Penn State football coaching staff have had to refocus
their football team on their way to a potential B1G Ten Championship.

Penn State Follower
I think I am going to be a Penn State football follower this week.  I loved Jay Paterno's (Joe Paterno's son and Penn State QB Coach) response to a question about his reaction to the B1G Ten conference removing his father's name from the B1G Ten Championship Game Trophy: "Let's get there and win it and put it back on...We'll bring a nice yellow post-it note and we'll put it right back on there."  It's been hard for me and I think for a lot of non-Penn State fans to separate the recent despicable sexual abuse allegations of former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky with the fact that the Penn State football team still has a season to finish and potential B1G Ten conference championship to win.  The consequential fallout that have engulfed the college football (and news) world have dwarfed the fact that Penn State still has a good football team this year, made up of players, family and coaches that had nothing to do with those horrific acts and allegations as well as any potential cover-ups that may have taken place.  With Jay Paterno's attitude of focusing on football and highlighting the winning spirit that has historically made Penn State such a notorious institution in the midst of multiple issues that are out of the football team's control at this point has made me even more interested in the Penn State-Wisconsin game this week where the winner will earn the right to play Michigan State for the right to raise the B1G Ten trophy in December - or apply any post-its as they may see fit.

Eastward Bound?!

In his weekly press conference Bronco Mendenhall indicated that the Big East is headed west.  Bronco told reporters that BYU had been “approached” by the Big East and that the Big East is trying to "convince" BYU to join the conference.  I find it extremely interesting and noteworthy that Bronco responded directly to the question, which is totally unlike traditionally tight-lipped BYU.  This seemingly unnecessary disclosure reveals one thing: BYU Football may be headed East very soon.

What does Bronco know?  BYU and the Big East could make interesting partners.

The Big East has been torn apart over the years as football-heavy schools such as Miami (FL), Virginia Tech, Boston College, and more recently, Syracuse and West Virginia, have left the basketball-first conference for other BCS pastures.  Even TCU left the Big East for the Big 12 before they even played a game.  The Big East is on the verge of collapse and if the trend continues, the Big East could be on the outside looking in when the current BCS deal ends after the 2013 season.  Desperate times call for desperate measures (at least geographically speaking).

So why BYU?  With only 5 football-playing schools remaining after this season (UConn, Rutgers, Louisville, South Florida, and Cincinnati), Big East Commissioner John Marinatto has been authorized to extend invitations to Boise State, UCF, Houston, SMU, Navy and Air Force, and all schools are likely to accept.  With West Virginia's acceptance into the Big 12 last week, it opened another slot to fill a 12-team conference for someone like BYU, who Boise State, in particular, was lobbying to receive an invite as well in the hope of forming a Western Division.

Given Bronco's public disclosure of the ongoing Big East negotiations, I think it means either one of two things: 1) BYU is serious about becoming a BCS conference member and staple member of the new Big East's Western Division, or 2) BYU is disclosing the potential of joining the Big East to generate leverage in discussions with the Big 12.  Anything else just doesn't make sense to me.  So without getting too hypothetical about the Big 12 situation (who just lost Missouri to the SEC), let's think about why a jump east might be a good move for BYU Football (and the Big East):

 Winning! - Let's be honest, getting invited to the BCS table is huge at this point...even if it's the little kids table! Look at how Utah has been welcomed to the Pac-12 this year - ouch! Would you rather enter a conference where the stiffest competition will likely be Boise State, Houston, and Louisville? The watered-down Big East is a winnable conference for a good BYU team. On the flip side, even a great BYU team may not win the Big 12, for example, causing the BCS Bowl discussion to be a moot point any way.

Flexibility - Even if the Big East does not retain an automatic BCS bid when the BCS contracts renew in 2013, BYU still has two seasons ('12 and '13) to prove they belong in a BCS conference, win a conference championship, go to a BCS bowl, and win.  If the Big East is booted from the BCS in '14, BYU can leave and declare independence (again), or join any of the other BCS conferences, which may have 27 schools in each conference by then.

Football Only - Since BYU's non-football sports already have a home in either the WCC or WAC conferences going forward, it would make for a simple piece of the puzzle to the Big East Football mess, and the BYU Women's Soccer team, for example, won't have to travel to Storrs, Connecticut for a single soccer game.

Boise State and BYU could very well be Big East/West BCS buddies!

"Bronco" Buddies - BYU and Boise State are already scheduled to play each other beginning next year beyond 2020, and Boise wants a Western travel partner to help cut down on making several cross-country trips each year.

How Big Is Your HD Truck?  One of the key reasons BYU went independent in football was to utilize its broadcast facilities and partnership with ESPN to promote BYU and provide its national and international brand with access and exposure.  After witnessing BYU produce and distribute the Oregon State broadcast earlier this year to a national audience (albeit on a tape delay), why wouldn't the Big East want a part of those facilities to produce all of the conference games in the Western Division?!  If BYU's smart about it, too, they should be able to take a much larger portion of any conference TV revenues.  When you've got it, flaunt it, and then cash it in.

Selfishly, I'd rather see BYU join the Big East so I can easily attend conference games at Rutgers or UConn, but I still think the Bronco's presser was not a slip...it had a purpose.  Only time will tell what it all means.

Please Don't Punt!

I had never seen a punt team essentially lose a college football game until I watched the BYU-TCU game last week.  It's never good when your punt team is on the field because it means your offensive drive was stopped, but when BYU's 4th Down team took the field it was a flat-out disaster.  Case in point...BYU performed 4 punt snaps against TCU:

Punt #1 - Bad snap, -34 yards, led to TCU TD after 2 plays
Punt #2 - Partial block, 23 yards, led to TD after 3 plays
Punt #3 - Bad punt, 16 yards, led to TD after 2 plays
Punt #4 - Fumbled snap, -15 yards, led to TD after 4 plays

The BYU defense was tough against the Horned Frogs, but BYU learned that
all parts of the team need to be playing at a high level if they are going to beat
a good team like TCU...including the punt team.

So yet again, BYU found a way to lose a "Big Game".  They lost the turnover battle yet again (3-0), but the punt team was the real issue behind the loss and each of the 4 bad punt plays above don't count as official turnovers.  The BYU offense outgained TCU and moved the ball throughout the game, the BYU defense held TCU to its lowest offensive output of the year.

BYU (6-3) has a bye week to think about the Disaster in Dallas, then they will have 3 very winnable "WAC" games against vs. Idaho (1-7), vs. New Mexico State (3-5) and @ Hawaii (5-3) to end the regular season.  If BYU continues to play the way they did against TCU and in seemingly every other "Big Game" in recent years, the WAC might be the best place for BYU to end up unless they want to end up 2-7 in any BCS conference.